How To Install Linux Kernel 5.16 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Linux Kernel 5.16 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, Linux Kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking Unix-like operating system. It is the main component of a Linux operating system and is the core interface between the computer’s hardware and its processes. Linux kernel 5.16 is a great release for Linux gamers and AMD users. It brings the long-anticipated FUTEX2 implementation from Collabora for a faster gaming experience when playing both native Linux games. Other improvements have seen write include improved write congestion management, a task scheduler for CPU clusters sharing L2/L3 cache, among many other additions.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of Linux Kernel 5.16 on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Ubuntu 20.04, 18.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install Linux Kernel 5.16 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa

Step 1. First, make sure that all your system packages are up-to-date by running the following apt commands in the terminal.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install update-manager-core

Step 2. Installing Linux Kernel 5.16 on Ubuntu 20.04.

By default, Linux Kernel 5.16 is not available on the Ubuntu base repository. Now we download the latest package from the mainline Ubuntu kernel PPA:

cd /tmp

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.16/amd64/linux-headers-5.16.0-051600_5.16.0-051600.202201092355_all.deb
wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.16/amd64/linux-headers-5.16.0-051600-generic_5.16.0-051600.202201092355_amd64.deb
wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.16/amd64/linux-image-unsigned-5.16.0-051600-generic_5.16.0-051600.202201092355_amd64.deb
wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.16/amd64/linux-modules-5.16.0-051600-generic_5.16.0-051600.202201092355_amd64.deb

To install the new Kernel, let’s run the following command:

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Wait for the process to complete, you will need to reboot your system for the new kernel to be fully activated:

reboot

After logging back into your system, verify the newly installed kernel by using the below commands:

sudo uname -r

Output:

5.16.0-051600-generic

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Linux Kernel. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing the Linux Kernel 5.16 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Ubuntu website.